Photographs
by Kharina
Summary: The day after the defeat of He Who Must Not Be Named, Andromeda's emotions are nowhere near as calm as the weather.  Luckily, she has the help of a good listener.  Written for a challenge on the Harry Potter Fanfiction Lounge Forum.


**Disclaimer: **Unfortunately, I do not own Teddy Lupin. Or Andromeda, or anything else you recognise.

This was written in response to a sentence-prompt challenge on the Harry Potter Fanfiction Lounge. The challenge was: "Start your story with 'It was calm that morning. Too calm.'" So I've taken the opportunity to have a look at Andromeda immediately after the war. I know it's short, but hopefully it's short and sweet ;)

Enjoy!

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It was calm that morning. Too calm. A storm would have been more suitable. Or monsoon-like rain, or freezing cold, or scorching heat. Something, anything more dramatic than this bright gentle calm to mark the defeat of the most dangerous wizard in history, and more importantly the death of her only child. 

Teddy was wailing again. He was hungry: she knew she should transfigure some milk for him. Perhaps it would be good to do something. She heaved herself up from the old armchair she'd been curled in, and forced down a fresh wave of pain as she passed the empty chair that had always been Ted's.

She poured some water from the tap into a bottle, transfiguring it with a wave of her wand. Walking through into a small room with a crib in the centre, she proceeded to offer the bottle to the crying baby. He turned his head away.

"You miss your mummy, don't you?" She whispered softly, cradling him. "I know. I do, too."

Andromeda shook her head. "What am I doing, talking to you?" she murmured, looking into the baby's eyes. "You don't understand a word I'm saying."

Her eyes fell on an old box in the corner. Placing Teddy down gently, she went to investigate. The room Teddy was in used to be a spare room, and with Ted's lack of organization had acquired all kinds of things that had been shoved in there under the pretence of "tidying".

Opening it, she was surprised to note it contained boxes of old photographs: wizard and Muggle. Tears spilled down her cheeks as she examined the top one: Nymphadora's wedding, a picture of her, Remus, Nymphadora and Ted. Impulsively, she lifted the box and carried it over to the cot, lifting the photograph from it and showing it to the baby.

"Look, that's your granddaddy. He'd be really proud of you," she said, swallowing back a sob. "And your mummy and daddy, look. They'll really miss you, and I know you miss them, but I'll do my best, I promise."

Teddy stared back at her with eyes currently a kind, twinkling hazel, that reminded her of his namesake.

She bent down to the box again, placing the photograph down reverently and taking a box of photographs out. Opening it, she gasped in surprise: it was the box of objects and photographs she'd salvaged from her home before her elopement. She lifted out the photo at the top: five children, the oldest ten, the youngest four. She straightens and shows the photo to the baby. She wasn't sure why: maybe it came from a sense of fairness, that she should show Teddy all the family he's lost.

"That's your cousin Sirius," she began, starting with the easiest, the one she could be proud of. "He would have been so happy your daddy got married, especially to someone like your mummy. He'd have loved you." She paused. "He was great. You'd like him."

The baby gazes up at her. She knows it's ridiculous, that he cannot possibly understand what she's saying, but somehow it seems like he is listening.

"That's your cousin Regulus. He wasn't as brave as Sirius, but he was nice in his own way. He wanted approval too much, I suppose, but he saw what was right in the end."

"That's your Great… your auntie Cissy. Narcissa. I don't think she'd like being called great aunt. She's still alive, but you probably won't ever meet her." She paused for a second. "She has a son now. She was always the perfect one: she did what she was supposed to without question. Don't ever do that, Teddy. Please don't always take whatever I tell you as right." She pauses and thinks. "On the other hand, you do still have to do as I say."

He gurgled as if in agreement. She laughed, but her smile faded as she looked back down at the photograph. She had no idea what to say about the last face on there.

"And that… that's your Aunt Bellatrix." She swallowed. "She- she was lovely when she was younger. She looked after all of us. But then..." She breathed in deeply, steadying her mixed emotions. "Then _he_ came. She fell in love with him, if you can call it love. Merlin, he was cruel. But then, so was she, later. She died yesterday, but I'm not that sad, Teddy. I lost her a long time ago. I've already grieved, do you see?"

He could not say anything, could not advise her, but somehow the way he watched her made him look as though he was listening. That helped, more than she expected.

"Thank you, Teddy," she whispered, bending down to gently place the photograph back in the box.

She offered him the bottle again, and this time he didn't turn away, but latched his mouth on and sucked. She let herself cry freely, cradling the precious shape in her arms.

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